Wonderful character development!

An action-packed slog

Amateur movie with Big budget

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

why is it people care so much how old Lucille ball and henry Fonda were in the movie. when i saw it i thought that they both looked awfully believable in their roles and thats that. fun movie with miss ball doing scenes that remind us of the classic i love Lucy.....and Mr. Fonda looking debonair and actually good in comedy. the kid who stole the show Eric Shea...wow is he natural and good and this also went on in the Poseidon adventure. wonder what became of him. the scenes are all cute and the dialogue really is the dialogue parents and kids would have. not a absolutely great film...but a honest fun one that i enjoyed very much.

Henry Fonda's entertaining vehicle with young people and agreeable actors . A widower Navy Admiral (Henry Fonda) and a lovely widow (Lucille Ball who produced the film with his company : Desilu Productions) fall in love and marry, much to the dismay of his 10 and her 8 children . He runs a loving but tight ship , with charts and salutes . The kids long for a permanent home . The film deals about a happy family , the father is a notorious Admiral and the mother is a nurse . They are instantly attracted to each other and quickly decide to marry . There are various family crisis but it is all very heartwarming . They are quite cognizant of the fact that he already has ten children from his first marriage, and she has eight from her first marriage . Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball ought to keep the familiar order involving in their own home while at the same time occupy the works .Then the problems start as two sets of kids, the free spirits and the disciplined preppies, must live together. The warring factions agree to work together to carry out the marriage .The picture is pretty entertaining and amusing , the film contains bemusing scenes , zany shenanigans , continuous laughters and various chuckles with lots of fun . Humanity and humor are high in the priorities of the director Shavelson who shows a considerable talent recapturing funny situations . The picture belongs to numerous family sub-genre whose maxim representation is ¨Cheaper by dozen ¨ with Myrna Loy and Clifton Webb and a modern version starred by Steve Martin and Bonnie Hunt ; and of course ¨Yours , mine and ours¨ , being recently remade (2005) by Raja Gosnell with Dennis Quaid and Rene Russo . Formidable main cast , very well featured by Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball . Besides , there appears as sons ,some young actors who will have an acceptable career as TV stars as Morgan Brittany , Tim Matheson and Tracy Nelson .The motion picture was well directed by Melville Shavelson . His movies have a special penchant for recapturing a particular atmosphere , many of this movies are about real people but they remain muted in impact . A notorious screenwriter , Bob Hope and Danny Kaye features Shavelson's movies when he became filmmaker and his films with them are the most successful such as ¨The seven tittle Foys¨ , Beau James¨, ¨On the Double¨ and ¨Five pennies¨ . Shavelson's later pictures were made for TV and mostly biographies as ¨The great Houdini¨ , ¨Ike¨, ¨Ike : the war years¨, and ¨The legend of Valentino¨ which remains the best work on the subject to date . Two of the best films resulted to be ¨¨Cast a giant shadow¨ , an epic movie with all-star-cast dealing with the birth of Israel and this ¨Yours , mine and ours¨.

Should a widow with eight children marry a widower with ten? Well, yes, if the lady is played by Lucille Ball. This movie is heavily dependent on Ms. Ball, who manages to carry the film on her comic shoulders. It's nice to see an older actress playing a beautiful, romantic leading role; and, watching Ball is the main attraction, after all these years. The situation is something different than anything she would do on television, at the time. Herein, there are subtle, snickering sex (and drug) jokes.Mostly, you get to see how Ball and Henry Fonda (as Helen and Frank Beardsley) manage merging their reluctant offspring. This situation plays better than "The Lucy Show" meets "The Brady Bunch" (that latter show must have been inspired, at least in part, by the success of this film). The earlier "courtship" scenes are sweeter, and funnier, than the remainder of the film.In a large cast of children, it's difficult to stand out - unless the script gives you something to do. Tim Matheson (as Mike) and Eric Shea (as Phillip) are the luckiest recipients. And, Jennifer Leak (as Colleen) gets to fend off Ben Murphy, her "frustrated, sex maniac" boyfriend.****** Yours, Mine and Ours (4/24/68) Melville Shavelson ~ Lucille Ball, Henry Fonda, Tim Matheson, Van Johnson

While TONS of folks have noted the appearance of Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson in this film, as well as Tim Matheson, Morgan Brittany, et al, I have not found anyone who remembers that Tom Bosley and Tracy Nelson much later co-starred in "The Father Dowling Mysteries." Imagine, they costarred 20 years previously when Tracy was under 3! I have never seen Robert Osborne note this in his intro to the film on TCM. (Sorry if this HAS been noted but I looked thru all the reviews and I checked the topic headings on the YM&O board.)As for the film, I enjoy it although I was later disappointed to find that nearly all the scenes were Hollywood contrivances that some hacks felt were necessary to "punch up the script". What a shame. Read the book.